Data traffic growth in global networks demand higher I/O data rates. Analog-to-digital (ADC) converters are being incorporated into high-speed backplane receivers and even coherent fiber-optic receivers to achieve greater throughput of data.
High-speed communication links are necessary between computers to facilitate movement of bits from one computer to another. For example, within a “data farm,” thousands of servers communicate with each other through optical or electrical pathways. These pathways are referred to as high-speed networks, communicating at speeds in the range of hundreds of gigabits/second (Gb/s) or faster. To facilitate the transport of digital bits between the servers in the network, transceivers (built from integrated circuits) within the servers must be very small, power efficient, and operate at very high speeds. The information coming into the transceiver, for example, from an optical fiber or a backplane link, are physical voltages or currents. These voltages or currents are in analog form. Therefore, ADCs are used at the front end of the transceiver to receive the analog information and convert the information into digital bits that computers can understand and use for further processing.
Power density in these large data farms is an ever-increasing problem. Thousands, even millions, of servers and other equipment operate at the same time. In some cases, a dedicated power plant is required to support the power needs within in a single data farm. There is a strong motivation to design power-efficient computer chips and networking chips. Because the ADC consumes a large amount of a transceiver's power, lowering the ADC power consumption while maintaining a small footprint is very advantageous.